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Every country or community craves for development in various forms – development that has positive impact on various facets of human endeavor. This insatiable quest for development calls for pragmatic measures to bring it to fruition.

One tested model that holds the key to rapid socio-economic development at the local level is the Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP), a process that was developed and popularized in East Africa by Spark MicroGrants, a partner organization of Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA). In fact, Spark MicroGrants has successfully implemented this model in seven countries involving 816 communities with over 550,000 people directly impacted by this initiative.

ACA, a non-profit-making organisation, has since 2016 been helping some West African communities threatened by mining activities to choose a development pathway through legal support and popular mobilization.

In the long-term, the FCAP process envisages that this tried and tested model will be adopted by the government as the main vehicle for the execution of development projects at the local level. Since 2018, FCAP has been ACA’s community-driven development strategy, which encourages communities in Ghana and some other West African countries to create a common development vision and equips them with skills and financial resources – including a USD 9,000 microgrant–to pursue it.

FCAP typically combines facilitated meetings, community capacity building, savings groups and a microgrant to the community, to impact individual livelihoods and a sense of social cohesion within the whole community. Beneficiary communities are first trained, among others, in how the people could come together, mobilize resources and take their destiny into their own hands.  ACA and the local authorities usually hire Community-Based Facilitators (CBFs) to run the FCAP process on a day-to-day basis in each community.

How FCAP works

The Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP) is run under three broad Phases. These are the Planning, Implementation and Post-implementation.

Phase 1: This stage involves effective planning during which community members are first trained, among others, in how they could come together, mobilize resources and take their destiny into their own hands.  ACA and the local government authorities usually hire Community-Based Facilitators (CBFs) to run the FCAP process on a day-to-day basis in each village.

Phase 2: This is the implementation stage. At this point, ACA signs grant agreement with each beneficiary community to enable the people implement their chosen project with the $9,000.00 micro-grant within a specified period. Examples of communities which are currently at this stage are Saamang, Abompe, Dome, Hemang, Nsutam, Dwenase, Bosuso and Kplandey in the Fanteakwa South district as well as Asikam and Ahwenease in Abuakwa South of the Eastern region of Ghana.

Phase 3: The last Phase of FCAP is the post-implementation stage where the communities are weaned off FCAP and expected to have acquired some skills to implement their own sustainable development projects, going forward. At this stage, these communities mobilize financial and material resources themselves toward projects in their communities. Donkro Nkwanta, Nwoase, Kyeradeso and Salamkrom in the Nkoranza South municipality, Sagyemase in Abuakwa South as well as Juaso and Nsuapemso in the Fanteakwa South district are communities which are currently at this stage of FCAP.

Success stories

Plans are underway to roll out FCAP in one hundred communities across the Ghana following the successful piloting of the process in four communities in the Nkoranza South Municipality namely Donkro Nkwanta, Kyeradeso, Nwoase and Salamkrom as well as additional three communities in the Eastern region namely Sagyemase in Abuakwa South and Juaso and Nsuapemso in Fanteakwa South district.

The good news is that each of the seven communities just mentioned above has something concrete to show because of the implementation of FCAP primarily because each of them created a common development vision and was equipped with skills and financial resources to realize it.

For instance, Kyeradeso had no health facility and to avoid the situation where the people of the area travel to nearby communities for medical attention, the community decided to use the $9,000 microgrant to put up a CHPS Compound while Salamkrom constructed a 4-unit nurses’ quarters to accommodate nurses posted to the area.

This CHPS Compound at Kyeradeso near Nkoranza is one of the several other community-based projects successfully executed under FCAP

For the people of Nwoase, their main concern was to have accommodation facility for teachers in the town so that they would not have to commute from neighboring towns to work daily. To this end, they have constructed a 4-unit Teachers’ Quarters to ensure that teachers in the area have a convenient place to lodge and go about their normal duties.

Donkro-Nkwanta, on the other hand, has constructed a 1,400-seating capacity Community Centre to serve as a suitable place of holding major public and social gatherings such as Town Hall meetings, wedding receptions, funerals and many more.

In the Eastern region town of Juaso, a community still battling with varying devastating effects of mining, the residents are done with a soap-making factory – thanks to FCAP and they have just begun the production of black soap in commercial quantities to generate income for themselves and to boost their local economy.

Their compatriots at Sagyemase and Nsuapemso have successfully put up CHPS Compounds to aid the access to primary health care services in these communities.

Post FCAP implementation stage

It is note-worthy that Donkro Nkwanta, Kyeradeso, Nwoase, Salamkrom, Sagyemase, Juaso and Nsuapemso have recorded tremendous successes after transitioning to the post-implementation Phase of FCAP.

For example, the people of Donkro Nkwanta have successfully organized a fund-raising ceremony in partnership with their compatriots in the diaspora toward the provision of streetlights in the town, construction of a school block, renovation of the Maternity Block of their local Health Centre as well as provision of doors and windows of the Community Centre. The diasporans have so far supported the community with Gh.c 15,200.00.

A similar story can be told at Sagyemase where, with the support of their colleagues in the diaspora, the community is wiring their CHPS Compound with ease. A Member of Parliament aspirant has also provided financial support toward the tarring of the floor of the CHPS Compound.

At Salamkrom, the people have been able to pool resources toward the construction of a maternity block.

The Kyeradeso community has also undertaken a few self-help initiatives during its post-implementation stage of FCAP. From their own internal mobilization of resources, they have extended pipe-borne water to their clinic and kick-started a nurses’ accommodation project in the town.

Even though, these communities have been weaned off FCAP, that does not mean that ACA is done with them because they will continue to enjoy other support packages through the Citizens’ Committee Network (CiCoNet), Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa (PILIWA) and the Citizen Science programs.

CiCoNet is ACA’s answer to the threat that its partner communities face from powerful economic interests as it serves as an interface group of concerned citizens who help protect the communities’ development vision. Through CiCoNet, our communities have won key victories, such as prompting the suspension of a highly polluting mining company’s operating permit and inducing companies to fill abandoned pits that endangered the welfare of children and livestock.

ACA’s Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa (PILIWA), a regional movement of lawyers driven by social justice, a host of self-motivated and human rights-driven lawyers, serve threatened communities and assist them to fight for their own vision of the future in the face of pressure from powerful political and economic actors.

PILIWA members have resolved to relentlessly fight for justice and sustainable development in eight West African countries namely Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.

Through PILIWA, ACA’s legal team undertakes case-based legal support, in which ACA directly intervenes to represent or otherwise support West African communities facing serious threats to their human rights, natural environment, or land and livelihoods.

ACA’s Citizen Science program is an alternative, independent, participatory and inclusive scientific approach that helps communities detect the likely impact of mining activities through land, water and air.

Going forward

Having successfully run FCAP in Donkro Nkwanta, Nwoase, Kyeradeso, Salamkrom, Juaso, Sagyemase and Nsuapemso, ACA is currently implementing this development model in eight more communities in Fanteakwa South namely Saamang, Abompe, Dome, Hemang, Nsutam, Dwenase, Bosuso, Kplandey as well as Asikam and Ahwenease in Abuakwa South.

Besides, ACA is in the process of scaling it up by roping in additional 20 communities in Nkoranza South and 46 more communities in Abuakwa South and as time goes on a lot more communities in Ghana are expected to be covered to bring this participatory model of development to the doorsteps of people.

By Michael Offei

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It was all joy at Saamang, Abompe, Dome, Hemang, Nsutam, Dwenase, Bosuso and Kplandey in the Fanteakwa South district as well as Asikam and Ahwenease in Abuakwa South of the Eastern region of Ghana when these communities signed grant agreements with Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA), an NGO, to carry out various development initiatives. Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA), a non-profit-making organization is facilitating the execution of self-help programs and projects in ten communities in Abuakwa South and
Fanteakwa South districts of the Eastern region of Ghana.

The excitement and enthusiasm demonstrated by these community members during the signingof the grant agreement are ample testimonies of their resolve to pursue their vison in line with the medium-term development plan of the Fanteakwa South district assembly.
ACA is partnering with the Fanteakwa South and the Abuakwa South district Assemblies to support Ghanaian mining communities to implement the Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP), a process that was developed and popularized in East Africa by ACA’s partner
organization, Spark MicroGrants.

FCAP is part of ACA’s community-driven development strategy, which encourages communities to create a common development vision and equips them with skills and financial resources – including a USD 9,000 microgrant–to pursue it.

Each community is receiving a $9,000 grant from ACA to pursue sustainable development projects that will put these communities, which are threatened by extractive development, incontrol of their own development and give them the tools to advocate for their own vision of the
future.
In line with the District Assemblies’ medium-term plans, Hemang, Dwenase and Kplandey have prioritized the construction of mechanized boreholes while Dome is putting up a CHPS Compound (mini clinic that typically provides primary health care services).
For residents of Asikam, a maternity block is urgently needed to increase access to maternal health services and further facilitate the process of upgrading their CHPS Compound to a health centre, while their counterparts at Nsutam consider a mini market as their priority. Classroom blocks are to be built at Saamang and Ahwenease.

Community members of Abompe and Bosuso are investing their grants in income-generating ventures to create employment and wealth among themselves. While the people of Abompe are going into poultry farming, their counterparts in Bosuso are venturing into the production of soap in commercial quantities.“I have learnt a lot from ACA over the last four months as regards project implementation and
management. Thanks to ACA’s engagements with us, we are clear in our minds in taking our destiny into our hands and mobilizing resources toward a common goal. My community arrived at a consensus that we should have a health centre and we remain committed to ensuring the successful implementation of our project”, Gideon Ofori Boakye, the Assembly member for Asikam Electoral Area said after the signing of the grant agreement.
“This project will go a long way to help the community as this maternity block, which is about to be built, forms part of the broader plan to upgrade our CHPS compound to a health centre to improve access to good quality health care.” The Mmrateehene (chief of young males) of Asikam, Obed Ofori Ansah also had this to say: The engagements between ACA and the local assembly and the community over the last few months have broadened our horizon on several issues. For instance, we learnt about effective planning and implementation of community-based projects. We are so grateful to ACA and its partners for the good work done so far.”

Already, Sagyemase, Juaso and Nsuapemso in the Eastern region as well as Donkro Nkwanta, Kyeredeso, Nwoase and Sallamkrom in the Bono East region have benefited from the FCAP microgrant projects while plans are underway to add 20 more communities in the Nkoranza
South municipality.
“Following the roll-out of FCAP in my community, Segyemase, we were first trained in how the whole process works. The training, among others, gave us more insight into how we, as a people, could come together, mobilize resources and, with one accord, take our destiny into our hands”,
Emmanuel Akyeamadu, a beneficiary of FCAP in Segyemase near Osino said. He added: “We came together as a community and contributed through communal labour to ensure cost-effectiveness in the execution of the CHPS Compound project, with ACA assisting with the cedi equivalent of $9,000 at the time, which was about Gh.c 52,000.”

In all, ACA intends to replicate the process in a hundred communities across Ghana’s mining regions in the coming years. ACA has also sponsored CDD projects in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Through FCAP, communities have successfully built key infrastructures, including clinics and community centers, and start-up collective enterprises, such as rice farms and black soap manufacturing.
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On July 6, 2023, the Citizens Committee Network (CiCoNet), a group of concerned community members in the Eastern Region of Ghana, led a group of journalists to tour three towns that have been badly affected by mining activities.

The field trip, which took the journalists to Juaso, Nsuapemso and Segyimase, gave media representatives an understanding of the impacts of mining on community members’ lives and livelihoods and showcased the failure of Ghana’s mining regulatory agencies to respond to the human rights and environmental abuses that communities are suffering at the hands of some mining companies operating in the area.

The trip kickstarted at Juaso, where the team visited a structure slated for use as a black soap manufacturing facility, a project that the community launched to provide alternative livelihoods for people who have lost their land to mining expansion.  Ironically, work on the project has stalled due to recent moves by Kibi Goldfields to excavate the land just inches away from the structure, without prior notice to the community.

Juaso soap making block

As soon as the group arrived on-site, and before the journalists could peacefully carry out their professional duty, heavily armed private security agents working with Kibi Goldfields Company Limited emerged, tried to confiscate the participants’ phones and devices, and blocked their egress from the area.  Notwithstanding, the ACA staff on board managed to convince the security detail to allow the media to carry on with their work.

In a series of field visits and interviews, the journalists learned of the community members’ key concerns, including the involuntary acquisition of farmlands by Kibi Goldfields (in Juaso) and Narawa Mining (in Nsuapemso) without adequate compensation to the landowners/farmers and the destruction of water bodies.  Farmers also complained about the companies’ refusal to remediate abandoned mining pits after use, which has led to the accidental death of about nine persons in less than two years.

“I lost my two sons on the same day because of Narawa Mining Company’s uncovered pits at Nsuapemso in September last year. My two sons, Grant Larbi, 24, and Blessed Damptey, 21, fell into one of the uncovered pits on their way to farm and died on the spot,” Mr. Daniel Damptey narrated his ordeal to the media.

According to him, the loss was especially devastating, as Grant Larbi, the eldest son, was the bread winner of the family.

Mr. Daniel Damptey showing 2 sons who died

Mr. George Owusu Asante, Chairman of CiCoNet, stated that Kibi Goldfield’s mining operations had taken over vast areas of lands belonging to the people of Juaso without prior notice, destroying their livelihoods and access to potable drinking water.

“Instead of the mining company informing owners of the land who are predominantly farmers for negotiations, the company takes over the land – often overnight and in most cases without surveying the land – and destroys crops and economic trees,” he stated.  “Just take a look at this building, which is to house our black soap manufacturing system, built by the community to provide an alternate source of income for residents, and just see how they are excavating around the building without any recourse to future of the community?”

The mining company’s alleged actions violate Section 72(5) of the Mineral and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), which requires the owner of the mining lease to, “in the presence of the owner or accredited representative of the owner, and an officer of the Government agency responsible for land valuation, carry out a survey of crops and produce a crop identification map for compensation in the event that the mining activities are extended to the areas.”

“The company’s excavators have shaken the building’s stability, frightening community members who want to participate in the self-help project, disrupting farming activities and causing devastating effects on the community’s livelihood,” remarked Owusu Asante.  “We are unable to farm, which is making life extremely difficult for us,”

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[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.6″ _module_preset=”default”]2022 was an amazing year, during which ACA’s internal investments increasingly paid off in terms of concrete results for communities and civil society partners across West Africa. [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.6″ _module_preset=”default”]At ACA, we help West African communities that are threatened by the destructive impacts of extractives-led development take control of their own development and use law and science to fight off threats to their chosen future. We are a laboratory for community-driven development and legal action, an incubator that helps our partners acquire the capacities to champion the interests of threatened communities, and a launch pad for new institutions that train and encourage lawyers, scientists, and development professionals to act in the interest of communities. [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.6″ _module_preset=”default”]In 2022, we made progress on all these fronts, and threatened communities are benefiting as a result. [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.6″ _module_preset=”default”]First, as always, we experimented and perfected innovative legal and community-driven development (CDD) tools to help communities seek remedies for abuses by powerful economic actors and build resilience to their impacts and attacks: [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.6″ _module_preset=”default”]

•  We piloted a CDD intervention for women who lost their livelihoods to a sprawling diamond mine in Koidu, Sierra Leone.  The project has brought the women such hope that they are now the unshakable core of our legal strategy as well.
  
• We helped Ghanaian citizens induce the suspension of a polluting mining company’s operating permit and the filling of abandoned mining pits through Citizens Committee Network (CiCoNet), a community-government interface group that we sponsored and trained to advocate on their communities’ behalf.

• Our new case in Liberia, on behalf of villages whose land was stolen by the giant Salala Rubber Plantation, survived a Motion to Dismiss and seems headed to trial.  If we win, the case will invalidate a massive, country-wide land grab that the Liberian state perpetrated against indigenous communities in 1956 and establish that compensation is due when indigenous land is given to foreign companies.
• We crafted a strategy to use the French courts to enforce the judgment of the ECOWAS Court of Justice in the Zogota massacre case by seizing Guinean state assets. A case will be filed in the coming months to strike a blow against international crimes and deter corrupt leaders from stashing ill-gotten wealth. 
• ACA’s Science Adviser coordinated three citizen-science studies using ACA’s methodology for community-driven scientific analysis.  The results will be used in litigation and to design additional community-led interventions to improve their living environment.

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[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.6″ _module_preset=”default”]Second, we promoted partners’ capacity to use our most effective techniques, especially through the Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa (PILIWA): [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.6″ _module_preset=”default”]

• With our coaching, our partner in Niger adapted a tool called compulsoire from a PILIWA member in Côte d’Ivoire. This led to the first successful legal action in Niger to compel pre-litigation disclosure of information, unblocking a major barrier to civil justice.
• We launched a webinar series on innovations for justice in West African legal systems.
• ACA began holding M&E and strategic planning seminars for key ACA partners.

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And third, we are taking huge steps forward in building a foundation of public interest activists and organizers across West Africa through training institutions and programs:

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• ACA is scaling up from 7 to 107 CDD communities in Ghana, in partnership with local government authorities! By working with local District Assemblies, we will build a wide-reaching and lasting base of CDD-trained government authorities and civil society partners.
• ACA’s Science Adviser is working with universities across West Africa and will begin training young scientists in our community-driven methodology in 2023.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.6″ _module_preset=”default”]Given all of these advances, 2023 is going to be a huge year.  We’ll begin the massive scale-up of our CDD work in Ghana and launch a legal clinic in Nigeria.  We’ll go to trial on cases in Ghana and Liberia, file transnational litigation arising out of Guinea and Nigeria in France and Italy, take a case on appeal in Sierra Leone, and launch litigation in Côte d’Ivoire and Niger.  Our citizen-science studies in Senegal and Sierra Leone will be used for advocacy and, potentially, litigation.[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.6.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]

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Published October 5, 2022 in The Daily Statesman, pg 10

Above: Minerals Commission officials photograph an abandoned mining pit in Segyimase, Abuakwa South Municipality during an inspection in July

The devastating effects of mining in parts of Ghana continue to bring untold hardships and other forms of deprivation to those people in whose immediate surroundings these activities take place, as well as the country as a whole. In some instances, irreparable damage is caused to land as dangerous chemicals like mercury and cyanide, which are mainly used in processing gold and other minerals, find their way into the soil and water bodies. The deadly effects of these chemicals on human lives are scary in the medium to long term.

Even though governments over the years have taken some steps to control the negative impacts of mining activities – both small-scale and large-scale mining – not much has been achieved in that regard. Most of these mining companies fail to cover the open pits they create in their operations, leaving them as death-traps in most instances.

Tragedy

Earlier this year, two young men fell into one of these abandoned pits near Osino in the Eastern region which has culminated in a resolution by the various communities around Osino that three gold mining companies operating in the area should, as a matter of urgency, return abandoned mining sites to their original state after failing to cover hazardous mining pits.

These communities have come together under the Citizen Committee Network (CiCoNet) representing the villages of Juaso, Nsuapemso and Segyimase to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that all mining pits left open are refilled and restored for use again to save human lives and the environment.

The leadership of CiCoNet will be meeting officials of the Minerals Commission in Koforidua this week in a bid to ensure the full reclamation of 13 abandoned mining and excavation sites, especially as there have been reports that one of the companies who created a pit at Juaso has suspended its refilling work.

Mr. Appiah Gyekye Jr, Vice-Chairman CiCoNet is calling for work to be expedited on the issue; saying, “How many more lives we have to lose to see proper reclamation done in our communities by the mining companies?” He was referring to the deaths of two brothers in June, Larbi Grant, 23, and Domptey Bless, 21, of Nsuapemso who drowned in an uncovered pit that had filled with water. The pit was dug and left uncovered by Narawa Mining.

Petitions

CiCoNet delivered a petition in July to Narawa Mining Limited, Kibi Goldfields Limited, and Managing God’s Resources Limited (MGR) mining companies on behalf of the affected villages requesting the companies fill in all abandoned pits without delay.

Kibi Goldfields’ reply to CiCoNet’s petition on July 14 claimed it had requested its “service provider,” BSD Mining Services, to fill pits near Juaso, which it claimed BSD Mining had dug. Neither Narawa nor MGR acknowledged receipt of CiCoNet’s petition to fill their pits in Nsuapemso and Segyimase, respectively. Petitions were also delivered to the Minerals Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Fanteakwa South and Abuakwa South district police stations. 

Mining companies are required by law to fill in excavation sites no longer in use through a process called “reclamation,” before they are permitted to begin excavation at new sites. Regulatory bodies such as the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are often lax in enforcing reclamation laws unless placed under pressure from the affected communities.

Slight compliance

In the absence of institutional support, CiCoNet members have taken the lead and organized their own monitoring at the pit sites to check whether companies are restoring the land as promised. In the first week of September, CiCoNet noted two pits on Kibi Goldfields’ concession in Juaso had been filled in with heavy machinery, and a diverted waterway had been restored at a third pit, though the pit itself remained uncovered. By September 28th, however, residents reported seeing the same heavy machinery used to restore the pit sites now sitting idle in the town center, and CiCoNet has not noted any further reclaimed sites.

In response to the petition, three officials from the Minerals Commission, including the Assistant Chief Inspector of Mines, carried out a fact-finding mission on July 26. They were accompanied by CiCoNet members and representatives from a local non-governmental organization, Advocates for Community Alternatives, which has supported CiCoNet and the three villages since 2018. The group visited a total of 13 pits across the three villages, five owned by Kibi Goldfields in Juaso, two owned by Narawa in Nsuapemso, and six owned by MGR in Segyimase.

The Minerals Commission is expected to take photographs and note down the sites that appeared long-abandoned. At one MGR pit in Segyimase, it appeared mining activities had been carried out without prior approval from the Commission in violation of regulations. In Nsuapemso, the Commission visited the same Narawa pit where the two brothers had drowned a few weeks before, and noted its proximity to the village and water sources.

It is hoped that the Commission will order all three companies to properly restore the abandoned sites under threat of sanctions, and share correspondence with CiCoNet. According to CiCoNet leadership, the Commission has yet to share copies of the letters despite repeated inquiries. Most recently, in August, the Commission claimed it could not produce the letters because one of its employees was on leave.

Defiance

According to the Commission, the letters were sent and Narawa replied to acknowledge that it failed to cover pits, but refused to begin reclamation processes until after the rainy season. Neither the Commission nor the company elaborated on why reclamation was never completed during any of the dry seasons in the nearly ten years since Narawa dug the pits.

Uncovered pits present various safety hazards to nearby residents, especially during rainy seasons when pits fill with water, pollution, and refuse from run-off. Multiple people have died from falling into pits over the years. Mosquitos and other insects lay eggs in the standing water, which can contribute to increased illnesses such as malaria in the local population.

CiCoNet still remains resolute in taking collective action and seeking the knowledge of the communities’ legal rights to fight against institutional heel-dragging at the Minerals Commission and demand all land be restored to local farmers. The group will continue to work with relevant institutions to hold the mining companies accountable to their obligations to the communities and prevent future tragedies.